Hotel St. Augustine

17.0

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From $149
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In Miami’s bid to maintain its reputation as America’s sexiest destination, South Beach is its red carpet. With hotels, bars and clubs like glittering starlets flashing canned smiles to the cameras, SoBe’s exhibitionistic brand of luxury sometimes borders on sensory overload. So while its hot-list neighbors peddle the lifestyles of the rich and famous, the Hotel St. Augustine instead offers a refreshing dose of modesty, set in a 1937 Art Deco landmark in the burgeoning South of Fifth district.

With only 24 rooms, the St. Augustine functions more as a guest house than a full-service hotel. It’s not unheard-of to have only one staff-person on-hand, hopping back and forth from reception duties to tending the small in-lobby bar (which also doubles as a breakfast lounge). The unassumingly hip décor keeps it simple, with the requisite Scandinavian clean lines, light woods and chromatic minimalism.

Designed around the concept of bringing the spa experience to the individual level, the bathrooms are by far the highlight of the hotel, and its primary claim to bragging rights amongst South Beach’s indulgent properties. While the main quarters of the rooms run on the smallish side, the bathrooms are expansive, featuring multi-head European steam showers and a spa-bar of products for self-pampering.

And that may be the key to this place: self-pampering. Prima-donna tendencies and celebutante fantasies are better played out elsewhere, but set only two blocks from the beach and minutes from the velvet-ropes, the Hotel St. Augustine is a perfect refuge from SoBe’s more ostentatious glamour.